Andronicus Valois
This article is about the historical personage. For other uses, see Storm King (disambiguation). ---- Andronicus Valois was the first—and perhaps only—Storm King. His reign occurred approximately 200 years before the main action of the comic. Opera Version According to the Storm King Opera, he beat back the forces of Bludtharst Heterodyne as head of the "Coalition of the West," for which he was hailed as the "Storm King" and received the blessing of the "Five Good Emperors." He fell in love with Euphrosynia Heterodyne when he saw her menaced by her fiancé, Ogglespoon (who was her fiancé by arrangement with her father, not by her choice, supposedly). He tried to rescue her, only to be thwarted by a bonsai hedge maze. He then vowed to search for her forever, leading to the downfall of the Knights of Jove. Historical Version Non-opera references to Andronicus suggest that he may have had the whole of Europa under his control, something that hasn't happened before or since (though Baron Wulfenbach was doing pretty well until Agatha showed up). He was the original owner of the Muses, created for him by Van Rijn, as a gift from "the greatest spark of the time", to the "greatest king of all time". He did at least arrange to marry Euphrosynia, but at some point in the process she him and destroyed the "Shining Coalition". To date, there has been no historical mention of "Ogglespoon". Tarvek Sturmvoraus is his direct descendant through the distaff line, so whatever exactly happened between him and Euphrosynia, he certainly managed to have heirs. Weaponry During his rule, Valois wielded a lightning-infused sword, "Archimedes' Lever," which was "bound to his soul", allowing him to sense and activate the weapon's power from a great distance away; His equally impressive mace, "The Platonic Solid", was able to shoot forth energy blasts with more than one effect. While the sword has been stated to have been made by Van Rijn, the mace's origin has been muddled with somewhat conflicting claims; see the weapon's own article for more information. Andronicus retained possession of the Solid until the very end of.. well, see below, but at some point he lost the sword; in Agatha's day it first appears on display in the Paris abode of his descendant and would-be replacement Tweedle The Return of the King It is eventually that Andronicus has been contained or preserved alive in some fashion by the Muse Prende and her time-altering Lantern inside an abandoned Corbettite vault in the catacombs under Paris. His physical appearance when finally released is striking to say the least: he is heavily armored, and of dimensions, with glowing yellow-green skin, and the ability to wither or age human appendages that he comes in physical contact with. From his point of view the enraged Valois went directly from the midst of a major battle (which he believed he was about to win) to the present-day Paris catacombs with no sense of the passage of time, and he believes van Rijn personally "witched him away." Upon being freed, he has a brief conversation with Agatha, wherein he sees no familiarity in her, and assumes she is a Heterodyne minion, instead of being the Woman Herself. He then remotely reactivates the Lever and proceeds to use the Solid to smite his way upward towards it through solid rock, with Prende in tow after her begging to be taken along. He faces opposition from the forces of the Immortal Library, but blasts his way past them. Upon reaching the surface, he is by The Master of Paris, the last surviving member of his former allies who were forced to battle him 200 years ago after he somehow turned into the rampaging revenant we see today. (Revenant in the more traditional sense of "remorseless undead ", rather than a victim of Slaver-wasps.) The Master had believed that Valois had been killed, but it appears that his former teacher Van Rijn lied to him about the Storm King's mortal status and spirited him away to the vault. Valois sneers at the Master's evident aping of Castle Heterodyne technology, shrugs off the initial attacks using said technology, batters Voltaire in return and demands to know the location of his kidnapped "betrothed", believing that said former allies had conspired to get rid of Euphrosynia. The Master states that Euphrosynia never loved him and was plotting to sabotage his coalition for her family. He also says that Andronius's "unfortunate new friends" are responsible for Valois's current state, with heavy implication that he is speaking of the Heterodynes of 200 years ago. Tweedle is one of the many spectators of this battle and his Smoke Knights covertly pump massive doses of poison into his ancestor during the fight, but it has no effect on the corrupted king. Nevertheless, Martellus Valois with Archimedes' Lever, having previously attempted to Sparkily break Andronicus's connection to the sword. He was evidently at least partially successful, and the clash of the Lever and the Platonic Solid leads to an energy burst that knocks Valois off his feet (and sends Tweedle flying away). Some of Tweedle's troops attempt to take advantage of this and attack, but this perceived act of cowardice merely results in the angered Valois unleashing a blast from the Platonic Solid that turns them all into his loyal undead soldiers, an ability he has due to Bludtharst Heterodyne corrupting his weapon. Andronicus attempts to convert the Master as well, but Voltaire the bolt and channels it to his own use, opening up a chasm in the street under Andronicus and his new followers. Andronicus blasts his way back out, leveling an entire building in the process, now looking rather the worse for wear, both in terms of armor and (lack of) facial features. He then suffers assaults and, more importantly, enraging from Oggie, Maxim, Jenka and Fust, the last swatting him down, whereupon Tweedle once again attacks him with the Lever. Andronicus (mostly) stops the attack and reclaims the weapon, but all of this gives the Master time to the entire Parisian power grid into a single blast aimed at the King and attuned to the Lever and the Solid, reducing both weapons to slag. Andronicus is with further attacks, culminating in a blast from Agatha's latest death-ray. Upon hearing her voice (and despite their previous meeting), the now thoroughly mangled and skeletonized king mistakes her for Euphrosynia, leaving him open to a final punishing blow to the face from Tweedle. He collapses to dust, leaving behind his crown, which Tweedle promptly claims as part of a celebrating his more figurative claiming of the title of the new Storm King. Print Novel Version The novel ''Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess'' opens with a brief prologue showing Andronicus, ruler of at least Western Europa, on the battlements at Sturmhalten overlooking the opposing Heterodyne forces as he prepares to marry Euphrosynia and thus cement a peace treaty with Clemethious and his son (Euphrosynia's brother) Bludtharst Heterodyne, in theory ending years of bloody warfare. Euphrosynia was evidently originally intended to marry an unnamed Heterodyne ally before catching Andronicus's eye and agreeing to marry him via an exchange of diplomatic missives.''' '''The Muses appear and inform him that his bride-to-be is a cats-paw for Clemethious, and will (at least attempt to) betray and destroy him. It is too late for him to change his plans, and he proceeds with the wedding. It should be noted that in this scene he bears little or no resemblance to the figure who emerges from the vault under Paris 200 years later. Possibly relevant outside information Andronicus seems to be an analogue to the real-world Louis XIV of France (1638–1715), who was known as the Sun King. Among other things, Louis XIV was known for working toward a centralized state and propagating the belief of a monarch's divine right to rule, an ideology which seems to resonate with the Storm King's followers as well. However, Louis XIV was a Bourbon; the House of Valois ruled France from 1328 to 1589. Additionally, the five good emperors is likely a reference to the Roman era of the same, during the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. Category:Legendary Characters Category:Living Impaired Characters Category:Tunnellers